Routes

Our long-established canal boat fleet is ideally placed to enjoy Oxford and Oxfordshire. Enticing landscapes of soft gentle pastureland passing by antique Cotswold villages, its unique charm has made it one of the country’s most popular canal holiday hire areas. It is a canal which you must explore, mooring your boat and walking to the nearby villages and of course enjoying the numerous pubs along the way.

The Oxford Canal

The Oxford Canal is probably the country’s most delightful boating holiday area, meandering from the outskirts of Coventry down to our own dreaming spires of Oxford. The Oxford Canal was built to transport coal from the coalfields in the midlands to the south of England. For a time, being one of the country’s most important waterways.

A short break boating holiday takes you to Aynho or Banbury and back dependent on how energetic you feel and whether you get delayed in one of the many pubs as there are so many to choose from. They provide freshly cooked local produce and delicious real ales to help you on your way.

Half of our boats are available for short breaks as we feel that this is a very good way to (literally) test the water! A one week boating cruise takes you to Napton and back on the canal (cruising through the newly built town centre of Banbury and the super little village of Cropredy).

The River Thames and further afield

There are some nice longer boating cruises also if you are planning one – the South of England circuit for example, or even a trip into the centre of London and Little Venice. Please call us on 01865 554343 to discuss possible itineraries.

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Customer reviews

Thank you for all your help, all the way through from booking to the end of our holiday, especially when we managed to get a tyre stuck in the propellor! excellent trip! – Brasenose 4/9/16

Way beyond what we hoped for, we will return with friends. Thank you for a fabulous short break.

Excellent service with a personal touch. Will recommend highly.

Ryan, Keble. 19/9/16

We had a great time and the boat is excellent. Thank you for a fantastic holiday. Beautiful scenery, great pubs… we will certainly be recommending College Cruisers!

Staff were very friendly and helpful, couldn’t ask for more. The boat was very comfortable and very clean. Many thanks for everything, including warming the boat before we arrived. Will definitely book again!!

Martin, Somerville. 20/11/16.

Absolutely wonderful holiday. Completely new to us but after expert instruction, picked it up well. Boat thoroughly excellent – clean etc.

‘From the booking to the day we arrived to collect our boat the service was excellent. Carys was friendly and professional and the tour around the boat with Sandy was very informative and he made us feel very relaxed.’

Claire, Keble. 7th July - 10th July.

We had a wonderful, memorable holiday. Perfect for the kids and the rest of us. THANK YOU.

Jann, Balliol. 1/07/16

We had a really good weekend, boats were great, just what we were looking for. Staff etc. have all been great and as a stag do of 19 guys, were very trusting that we would take care of the boats. 10/10!

A great 3 days thank you, the boat performed perfectly. Would come back again and we’d recommend you to others. – Brasenose 2/9/14